Event Title
Hedonic reward, negative affect, and personal characteristics in addiction: Examining allostatic theory in humans
Abstract
Substance use disorder (SUD), colloquially referred to as addiction, is characterized by an inability to control one’s use of a substance to the point of clinical impairment. SUD affects about a fifth of Canadians at some point in their lifetime. A better understanding of what drives SUD is crucial for improving prevention and intervention efforts. One of the prevailing theories of the mechanisms underlying SUD is allostatic theory (Koob & Le Moal, 2001), a model developed using animal studies. Allostatic theory proposes that as addiction takes hold and worsens, changes in the brain and body lead to increased reward drive, but also increased negative affect. This means that as SUD progresses, craving for a substance increases, but the actual enjoyment of that substance decreases. The current study seeks to translate allostatic theory in a group of individuals seeking treatment for SUD. Using statistical analysis, this study will investigate how the tenets of allostatic theory translate to a clinical sample by examining the relationship between drug liking and negative affect, determined by participant self-report, and severity of SUD diagnosis, determined through clinical interview. It will also include exploratory analyses using various personal characteristics of participants to generate hypotheses for future studies related to drug liking, an under-researched facet of drug use behaviour.
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Hedonic reward, negative affect, and personal characteristics in addiction: Examining allostatic theory in humans
Substance use disorder (SUD), colloquially referred to as addiction, is characterized by an inability to control one’s use of a substance to the point of clinical impairment. SUD affects about a fifth of Canadians at some point in their lifetime. A better understanding of what drives SUD is crucial for improving prevention and intervention efforts. One of the prevailing theories of the mechanisms underlying SUD is allostatic theory (Koob & Le Moal, 2001), a model developed using animal studies. Allostatic theory proposes that as addiction takes hold and worsens, changes in the brain and body lead to increased reward drive, but also increased negative affect. This means that as SUD progresses, craving for a substance increases, but the actual enjoyment of that substance decreases. The current study seeks to translate allostatic theory in a group of individuals seeking treatment for SUD. Using statistical analysis, this study will investigate how the tenets of allostatic theory translate to a clinical sample by examining the relationship between drug liking and negative affect, determined by participant self-report, and severity of SUD diagnosis, determined through clinical interview. It will also include exploratory analyses using various personal characteristics of participants to generate hypotheses for future studies related to drug liking, an under-researched facet of drug use behaviour.